Cotolo’s Harness Review, News And Notes

The Red Mile’s Grand Circuit meet is the focus of the sport
for the next two weeks. The weekend was filled with Bluegrass stakes for two-
and three-year-olds of both gaits.

Our campaign began on Friday, where we tried to beat
favorites that were spot-on fast and furious. We had a 6-1 second with
Deadliest Catch, who completed the $24 exacta with a favorite. Beyond that we
were fourth with Here’s Johnny, had a breaker that finished off the board and a
scratch with Arctic Tale.

Saturday got lucky for us as a disqualification placed our
choice, Rockin Amadeus first in another Bluegrass event, paying $10.
Captaintreacherous won again later paying two and change.

Sunday, Sept. 30’s Bluegrass features were for soph-colt and
soph-filly trotters. Our only strike was mild and, as it turned out, quite
predictable. Guccio won a colt split as the dead-on choice, paying $2.40. In
the other colt episodes, Gym Tan Laundry (3-1) was fourth and Beer Summit (3-1)
got fifth.

The fillies also handed over an obvious choice as Check Me
Out broke her own world record and won, paying $2.80 in one split. Bluff (7-5)
skipped a bit at the top but recovered to finish third and Personal Style (3-2)
broke at three-quarters while charging in second and finished sixth.

The final weekend of The Red Mile’s Grand Circuit meet
presents the age-old Kentucky Futurity episodes for colts and fillies of the
soph-trotting ilk. The events are embedded in harness racing history (for
some info, click here) and is one of the last outposts for heat racing.

The Hambletonian crews will be aboard, most of them engaged
in heat racing for the first time, which could provoke any number of upsets. We
will be covering the events with complete analysis’ in our preview blog this
week, including the exclusive Breeders
Crown Countdown blog.

Other top events are on the agenda for two- and
three-year-olds of both gaits and some other divisions. These are the last big
races before eight divisions drop into the box for the Breeders Crown elims.
Stay with us at TwinSpires for great harness-betting action and stabs at the
best prices the sport offers.

Review all of the season’s great harness action at the
archives we produce at Hambletonian
Society’s page.

News And Notes

The biggest news this week is
that the Breeders Crown
series will return to Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in 2013. We were on site in
2010 at the Pennsylvania track to report on both weekends—elims and finals—and
hope to be there again with the press corps next year, exclusively for
TwinSpires in league with the Hambletonian
Society, which handles the series. We will cover this year’s series at
Woodbine live but not on site.

Tom Charters, president of the Hambletonian Society, was enthusiastic about
the partnership.

“The opportunity to return to Pocono Downs in 2013 is very exciting,” he
said. “Mohegan Sun and the Pennsylvania horsemen were terrific hosts in 2010.

“Building on that memorable record-breaking night [in 2010], the
Hambletonian Society is looking forward to partnering with them again on what
will be a spectacular event for the entire harness industry.”

Pocono was the first track to host all 12 races on a single program, worth
$6 million.

Western Fair in Canada opens Oct.
12 with a 7:05 p.m. EST post. The
London, Ontario oval will host racing every Monday and Tuesday at 4:05 p.m. and
Friday and Saturday nights at 7:05 p.m. through Dec. 31. The first major race
on the schedule will be the $200,000 (est.) Forest City Pace for pacing mares,
slated for Saturday, Nov. 17.

Herve Filion has accepted an invitation from Rideau-Carleton Raceway to
drive on its Sunday, Oct. 7 program. The 72-year-old will make his first
Canadian driving appearance in over a decade.

Filion, a native of Quebec, has spent most of his life living and racing in
New York. He sits second in North American in lifetime victories with 15,180,
his record being surpassed this year by Dave Palone. His career earnings are
nearly $90 million.

In the standardbred industry’s Top Ten poll, the filly Check Me Out
continues to maintain first place. It is uncommon for a soph-filly trotter to
hold the first spot, no less keep it for as long as has Ray Schnittker’s
dynamic filly.

One horse that is eligible but won’t be racing in the Breeders Crown is For
A Dancer. The soph-filly trotters connections announced they are retiring her
for health reasons. She had a pretty good go at the races at two and three. She
won the Lady Suffolk in May and an Empire Breeders Classic elim and final in
June but she was never a challenge to the division’s super filly, Check Me Out.

Extraordinary Extras

Indulge in many standardbred topics at my Hoof Beats
blog titled Vast
Performances. Every weekend as part of that blog we we offer Balmoral
Pick-4-and-win picks at the USTA’s Strategic
Wagering Program page which includes suggested win bets. Last Saturday’s
ticket produced two winners, Gibbs ($10.60) and Whistle Pig ($13.40).

Connect to Twitter and follow Frank and Ray Cotolo for up-to-the-minute
suggestions on wagers at many harness raceways. Then, wager from your
TwinSpires accounts.

Get onto our mailing list and receive a free copy of a
classic horseracing fiction book by clicking here.

Check out special podcasts available for beginners and
veterans of harness betting, a new series available free so you can learn more
to bet more and win more at TwinSpires. Click
here.

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Welcome to the TwinSpires Blog. Our contributors will be continually updating posts to offer commentary, insight, advice and expert opinions on horse racing and wagering. The goal is to help you win more and become a better all around horse player.

Contributors

TwinSpires' horse racing author, handicapper, and podcast host, Derek Simon of Denver, Colo. offers his insightful, humorous and sometimes controversial take on the horse racing industry. He even publishes the ROI on the picks he gives out.

The Director of Marketing for Bloodstock Research Information Services (BRIS) and a lifelong Thoroughbred racing enthusiast and astute handicapper, Ed joined Churchill Downs Inc. following nine years as a writer and editor with Thoroughbred Times.

A writer and editor who has been following horse racing for fifteen years. Peter has written books for the Daily Racing Form Press; Crown; and Simon and Schuster; among other publishers, and regular features in The Horseplayer Magazine.